Monday, February 15, 2021

Chinese glass plant not welcome in Stratford

Visit the southwestern Ontario city of Stratford and you are sure to see signs protesting the locating of a Xinyi glass plant in the town made famous by the Stratford Festival.

CBC reports: A Stratford, Ont., citizens' group is demanding a review of glassmaker Xinyi Canada and its proposal to build a $400-million float glass factory in the community. The group is alleging the Chinese-owned company is a threat to national security. 

The critics also claim the proposed factory would more than double the size of the community's carbon footprint. Anyone familiar with Stratford would understand the immensely damning quality of that argument.

The CBC goes on to report that in a letter sent to Minister Navdeep Bains it is claimed:

"The ownership of the company is basically a bit of a network of holding companies and sub-entities, almost all of which are registered in the Cayman Islands or Virgin Islands and many of the principals involved in those companies have overt links, either to the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party."

1 comment:

William Kendall said...

I would say that given the way the Chinese government conducts itself, any step this country can take to minimize their impact, the better.